Hightown: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Stop reading for a moment when your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Hightown. The rest of this page explains why it occurs and how to ensure it does not — useful if you are reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel goes to the motor — but many modern diesels driven about Hightown and Congleton carry another liquid too. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has one filler of its own. Under one flap, side by side: that is the layout on many cars. On others, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. At the pump, your diesel side gets filled all the time. Rarely filled, AdBlue usually comes out of a bottle, tipped by someone who must stop and think which filler to use. It is in the gap that the error lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place around Hightown
Carelessness rarely causes it. What does is three things coming up together.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Park Lane before work, or in the car park at The Wonky Pear on the way home.
Unfamiliar cars come next, too. Rentals, new vehicles and company vehicles place their fillers differently, and the hand reaches for the cap used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, after begun, carries on. It takes a few seconds, whether out in Mossley or right in the centre of Hightown.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Whether a Hightown forecourt or a driveway over in Buglawton, spend a few seconds over these before anything goes in.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally don't.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Check for it.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by your diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Congleton.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
Wherever in Cheshire the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Cross Lane, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park and switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Stop once the tank fills or the bottle runs dry; until then, tip gently through the built-in spout.
- Before starting the car, close the cap and look again that your diesel cap never came off.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Skip stage five entirely.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Hightown?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting your engine. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the vehicle on. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
Ask the attendants to help push your car clear of the petrol pump if you're at a forecourt — the UK Petroleum, the another forecourt nearby or anywhere else. Your own drive in Hightown is where it stays.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the engine has already run. Leave the Sandbach Services Southbound — under 10 miles out of Hightown — at the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Stoke-on-Trent, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Hightown.
When our engineers turn up in Hightown, what happens?
The van comes to the car wherever it has come to rest — your own driveway, near Mossley Village Hall, or outside Mossley CofE Primary School. Both the work and the price depend on three replies — what liquid, what amount, and whether it's run — so we ask. The quote is given on the call, before any van leaves.
The system is then purged thoroughly, after the tank is emptied. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and neither washes out unaided. Hence it matters more. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. We do not go until it has been fired up and is running properly.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour after our technicians get there, as long as your motor has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a live forecourt yet quiet after dark beside a house. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, take a look at your policy; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Hightown and where it is
Hightown is a suburban area in Cheshire, situated on the riverside with a mix of housing types, predominantly detached homes. Hightown sits at an elevation of 133 metres, near the cities of Stoke-on-Trent and within commuting distance of other nearby places like Mossley and Dane in Shaw. Hightown is located in the North West region of England, approximately 143.5 miles from London. Hightown has a population of around 4220 residents.
AdBlue drains about Hightown, and Cheshire beyond
Over CW postcodes, the teams that cover Hightown — a residential suburb — work the nearby places too, Bath Vale and Dane in Shaw among them. Fastest of all: give a CW12 3 postcode to our van.
The car stays put. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Bromley Farm, a side street near Mossley Old School: we drain the vehicle where it is. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Holy Trinity Church? Close to a border? Asking is better than assuming, so phone.
In short, for Hightown motorists
Pour no AdBlue until you've read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it where it stands, wherever across Cheshire: switch the car off then call 0333 366 0103.